Mike Hersh, PDA Communications Director
Mike’s views are his own, and do not represent PDA’s official positions

Stochastic terrorism refers to the public demonization of individuals or groups through rhetoric that greatly increases the probability of threats and violence targeting them. This indirect incitement makes it challenging to hold the original speakers legally accountable, even though their language foments hostility and encourages violence.

Fascist figures continuously either recklessly or willfully instigate threats and violence. Their on air and online hate campaigns amplify anger and intolerance, then unleash them on innocent people. There are several well documented instances of demagogues using one particular tactic—demonizing trans people—to drive their audience to engage in terrorism.

Just one fascist maniac—Chaya Raichik aka Libs of TikTok—incited bomb threats targeting a state legislature, at least 11 schools and libraries, a children’s hospital, and several fitness centers. She falsely accuses LGBTQ+ people of child abuse, grooming, etc. Then, she shares how to find them, inciting harassment, death threats and violence.

Bomb threats proximately followed Raichik’s demonizing of LGBTQ+ people and specific schools and libraries. (Them, Southern Poverty Law Center). Right-wing troll Matt Walsh, Raichik of LibsofTikTok, and then Fox News host Tucker Carlson “began whipping up outrage over the summer with false claims that Boston Children’s Hospital was mutilating children.” (LGBTQ Nation) After Raichick attacked Planet Fitness for its inclusive policies, 17 of their locations received bomb threats. (Them)

Following Raichik’s targeting of Maine lawmakers for supporting science on gender-affirming care, bomb threats forced evacuation of the Statehouse, coinciding with legislative debate on protecting care. (Los Angeles Blade) Maniacs targeted California State Senator Scott Wiener with bomb threats after he introduced legislation to protect transgender youth. The threats included homophobic slurs and accusations of “grooming.” (Jezebel)

LGBTQ+ people, legislators and others face death threats and harassment after being doxxed by hate groups like the right wing funded Gays Against Groomers. These stochastic terrorist attacks frequently escalate to bomb threats and even violent attacks targeting teachers, doctors, nurses, patients, parents, children, and even legislators. Often, these attacks force innocent people into hiding. (Wikipedia, Daily Dot)

These chilling intimidation tactics are all the more horrific considering these propaganda campaigns have a rising death count. In November 2022, a shooter at Club Q, an LGBTQ+ inclusive nightclub in Colorado Springs, killed five innocents. This due to escalating anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric from then-FOX propagandist Tucker Carlson, Raichik and other right-wing media figures. (Them)

Keep in mind, all of the above examples of fascist-instigated terrorism relate to harassing, threatening, and physically attacking trans people and their allies. Sadly, these tactics are hardly limited to anti-trans violence, and are nothing new.

Former FOX News fascist propagandist Bill O’Reilly ranted about an OB-GYN Dr. George Tiller as “Tiller the baby killer,” using this provocative slur dozens of times between 2005 and 2009. Rolling Stone and The Washington Post documented O’Reilly’s hateful rhetoric. The hate monger lied about this, but ample evidence proves O’Reilly continued making incendiary accusations. This, even after Scott Roeder gunned down Dr. Tiller inside his church on May 31, 2009.

“Pizzagate” and the Comet Pizza Shooting (2016) The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) documented on how Jack Posobiec, Alex Jones, and other conspiracists promoted Pizzagate, as well as broader violent fascistic propaganda campaigns. Jones’ eight-wing conspiracy website Infowars and fascist provocateur Posobiec spread false claims that a Washington D.C. pizzeria hosted a child trafficking ring out of its non-existent basement. (New York Times) Another New York Times report outlines how online misinformation radicalized the shooter Edgar Maddison Welch.

These and countless other sources confirm that the Pizzagate conspiracy was a fabricated, fascist disinformation campaign that led to real-world violence. This culminated in a shooting that endangered lives, highlighting the dangerous nexus between online extremism and real life violence. Despite all of this, Elon Musk and other leading right wingers repeatedly boosted this deadly propaganda. (Associated Press, CNN, and NBC)

The “Great Replacement Theory” is stochastic terrorism.

In 2019, a white supremacist named Patrick Crusius shot 23 people to death at a Walmart in El Paso. The Associated Press reported on right wing rhetoric as a cause:

On social media, Crusius appeared consumed by the nation’s immigration debate, tweeting #BuildtheWall and posts that praised then-President Donald Trump’s hardline border policies.

His views went further in a document posted to an online message board about 20 minutes before the massacre in which he said the shooting was “in response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas.”

In American politics, Republicans continue to use the word “invasion” to describe migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, waving off critics who say the rhetoric fuels anti-immigrant views and violence.

The manifesto Crusius posted invoked the “Great Replacement Theory,” that former FOX News propagandist Tucker Carlson and other right wing figures frequently promote. This extremist screed accuses Jewish people of scheming to replace White people with non-white immigrants.

The Anti-Defamation League analyzed this incendiary rhetoric and the resulting violence, specifically linking Tucker Carlson’s stochastic terrorism to mass shootings at a school in Uvalde, Texas (killing 19 students, 2 teachers, and injuring 17 other people) and at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, (killing 10 people.)

CNN reported on a wrongful death lawsuit alleging that Payton Gendron, the then 18-year-old Buffalo shooter, “was not raised by a racist family” and “had no personal history of negative interactions with Black people.” The suit contends that Gendron was motivated to carry out the attack “by racist, antisemitic, and white supremacist propaganda” such as the “Great Replacement Theory.”

Trump praises propagandist and provocateur Jack Posobiec, as the SPLC reported. That organization’s Hatewatch produced an investigative series into the background of One America News Network (OANN) host Posobiec, who has collaborated with white supremacists, neo-fascists and antisemites for years, while producing propaganda that President Trump praised.

Gab, social media, and the Tree of Life Synagogue massacre (2018) Before mass murderer Robert Bowers killed 11 Jewish worshippers in Pittsburgh was active on Gab, a platform frequented by white supremacists. “In the months leading up to the shooting,” The Independent reported, “Bowers was spewing bigoted and antisemitic vitriol online, investigators say. He called immigrants ‘invaders’ and posted racist memes, including some that accused Jewish people of being the ‘enemy of white people.’” Wired reported reported that this is part of a pattern. ProPublica reported that this is part of a growing international fascist movement.

COVID misinformation and harassment of health officials Right-wing media figures like current FOX propagandist Laura Ingraham and former FOX propagandist Tucker Carlson spread COVID-19 vaccine misinformation and demonized public officials and health experts. (Mediate) As a result, many officials faced death threats and in person harassment. Journal of the American Medical Association/JAMA Network

Charlottesville Rally and Fox/Breitbart rhetoric (2017) The “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, where online and media propaganda against multiculturalism, Jews, and immigrants fueled violence. This, including white supremacist James Alex Fields Jr. killing Heather Heyer and injuring dozens of others with his vehicle. Breitbart and others had mainstreamed much of this rhetoric prior to the march. (PBS, NBC News)

January 6 Capitol Insurrection (2021) Fox News hosts, alongside Donald Trump and far-right influencers like Alex Jones and Steve Bannon, promoted baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen. These lies culminated in the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters attempting to overturn the election results. (ProPublica)

Each of these cases shows how demagogic behavior targeted marginalized people and even elected officials precipitated political violence. Fascists glibly deny responsibility for the violence they invoke and instigate, even as their words continue to radicalize individuals into terrorist actions. This underscores the need to take today’s demonization of trans people, drag performers, and LGBTQ+ families extremely seriously.

Recognizing the impact of stochastic terrorism is crucial in protecting our Constitution and rights from these ongoing acts of terrorism and violence. The correlation between anti-LGBTQ+ and other hateful rhetoric from fascists with huge audiences and violence underscores the real-world consequences of their hate campaigns.

Like the Nazis in Germany and the Ku Klux Klan in the U.S.A., today’s fascists routinely rely on threats and violence to further their extremist aims. They’re targeting places of worship, medical professionals and health facilities, teachers and school children to terrorize the populace.

Fascists inciting violence, including attacks on state lawmakers and on Capitol Hill, seek to impose their extremist anti-democratic agenda by brute force. This is not a drill. Our way of life is at stake. All people of good will—Democrats, Republicans, and independents alike—must unite against this fascist terror campaign now. Before it’s too late.